Saturday, September 19, 2015

NO MEN BEYOND THIS POINT: Five Fave Mockumentaries

It's a mockumentary about asexual women and a dwindling population of men, directed by Mark Sawers. As such, it nestles snugly into the great pantheon of mockumentaries. Here are five more of our faves.

Man with a movie camera.

David Holzman's Diary, 1967
This is quite possibly the first mockumentary. It stars L.M. Kit Carson as David and tells the autobiographical story of a filmmaker who wishes to document his life, love interest (played by a pre-The Exorcist Eileen Dietz), as well as his fears about being drafted into the Vietnam War. It's so underplayed that viewers frequently don't even realize the fictional conceit until the very last scenes.

Derek Smalls tries to get a novelty pencil past airport security.

This Is Spinal Tap, 1984
Perhaps the most well-known and most beloved of all mockumentaries, this Rob Reiner film follows the titular band on an odyssey that involves cold sores, shit sandwiches, the little people of Stonehenge, amps that go to 11, and exploding drummers. As if we didn't already know this is a perfect film, the Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in 2002 for it cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance.

I guess they'll never know how a young heart really feels.

Best In Show, 2000
Perhaps inspired by This Is Spinal Tap, Christopher Guest (a.k.a. Nigel Tufnel) wrote, directed, and acted in this parody of the crazy, cutthroat world of dog show competitions. Michael McKean also appears as the flamboyant Stefan Vanderhoof, while Guest provides a hilarious, low-key performance as Harlan Pepper. Never forget that Pine nut is a nut, but it's also the name of a town.

Contemplating a business plan for Frankie Wilde Hummus.

It's All Gone Pete Tong, 2004
This Canadian film (which played at the Festival) is named after Cockney rhyming slang for "it's all gone wrong" and had me fooled into thinking that Frankie Wilde was a real person. Starring the delightfully zany Paul Kaye (a.k.a. Dennis Pennis from The Sunday Show) as Wilde, the film explores what happens to a BBC Radio 1 DJ when he loses his hearing and was filmed entirely in Ibiza, the natural habitat of all truly world class DJs.

"Hello ladies."

What We Do In The Shadows, 2014
This Midnight Madness Peoples Choice Award winner from last year was my favorite movie of 2014, even beating out Godzilla (as much as I love that giant lizard, it's hard to beat bat fights and "that guy from Twilight," come on). A remarkable, improvisational collaboration between Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, it spoofs every vampire cliché imaginable (and a few that no one had yet thought of) and is genuinely, gut-bustingly hilarious and a little bit creepy (thanks to Petyr).